STAGE
2
Hamlet
William Shakespeare
Introduction
This ungraded summary is for the teacher’s use only
and should not be given to students.
The story
Prince Hamlet is the son of the late King Hamlet of
Denmark, who dies before the start of the play. After
King Hamlet’s death, his brother, Claudius, becomes
king and marries King Hamlet’s widow, Gertrude. Prince
Hamlet is very sad at the death of his father and cannot
accept the marriage of his mother and Claudius.
the play suddenly and runs out. While alone, Claudius
Two guards at the King’s castle have recently seen
confesses the murder to God.
the ghost of the dead King Hamlet. They summon Prince
Hamlet’s mother, Gertrude, then tries to reason
Hamlet’s friend, Horatio, to come and see this ghost.
with Hamlet while Polonius spies on them from
The next morning Horatio tells Prince Hamlet about it.
behind a curtain. Hamlet hears Polonius and kills him
That night Hamlet goes to the castle and speaks to
through the curtain, thinking that he is Claudius.
the ghost of his dead father. He learns that King Claudius
killed his father by putting poison in his ear while he was
Claudius then sends Hamlet off to England with
asleep. Prince Hamlet promises the ghost that he will
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Claudius gives the two
take revenge on Claudius and kill him.
friends a secret letter for the King of England asking
him to kill Hamlet.
Hamlet plans to show Claudius’s guilt by starting
to behave like a madman. In response to Hamlet’s
When Polonius’s son, Laertes, returns from France,
‘mad’ behaviour, Claudius, Gertrude and their advisor
he is enraged by the news of his father’s death and
Polonius, ask Hamlet’s childhood friends, Rosencrantz
wants to kill Hamlet. His sister, Ophelia, goes mad and
and Guildenstern to spy on him and find out why he is
kills herself by jumping in the river.
Hamlet returns alive from England after finding
behaving so strangely.
In the past, Hamlet had a romantic relationship with
the letter with orders to kill him. Claudius and Laertes
Polonius’s daughter, Ophelia. However, she has now
make a plan to secretly kill Hamlet in a friendly fight
been told to avoid Hamlet by both her father, Polonius
by putting poison on a sword. Claudius also prepares
and her brother, Laertes, who has gone to France.
some poisoned wine for Hamlet to drink.
After learning about his father’s murder, Hamlet
The sword fight between Laertes and Hamlet
visits Ophelia but acts strangely and is unable to
begins. Hamlet is offered the poisoned wine but he
speak to her. Ophelia then gives her father, Polonius,
refuses and instead his mother, Gertude, drinks some
a love letter from Hamlet. Polonius tells Claudius
and dies. Laertes stabs Hamlet with the poisoned
and Gertrude about it and says that Hamlet’s love for
sword.
Ophelia may have driven him mad.
stabs Laertes, who dies. Hamlet then stabs and kills
Hamlet then picks up the same sword and
Claudius and Polonius spy secretly on a subsequent
Claudius. Hamlet’s friend, Horatio, wants to drink the
meeting between Hamlet and Ophelia to try to find
wine and die too. However, just before Hamlet dies,
out what is wrong with him. Hamlet says wild things
he begs Horatio to stay alive in order to tell the true
and upsets Ophelia. After listening to this strange
story of what has happened.
conversation, Claudius tells Polonius that Hamlet
represents a threat to him and he plans to send him
away to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Before going to England, Hamlet convinces some
actors to change a play and re-enact King Hamlet’s
death in front of Claudius, in the hope of making him
break down and admit to the murder. Claudius stops
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STAGE
2
Hamlet
Pre-reading activity
Who’s who in Hamlet?
1 Match the names of the characters from Hamlet with the descriptions.
a
N Prince Hamlet
b
N King Claudius
c
d
N Queen Gertrude
N Polonius
e
f
N Laertes
N Ophelia
g
N Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
1 is the new King of Denmark and the brother of the
dead King Hamlet.
2 was married to King Hamlet but is now married to
his brother, King Claudius.
3 is the son of the dead King Hamlet.
4 is a young woman who loves Prince Hamlet. She is
the daughter of Polonius and the sister of Laertes.
5 are Prince Hamlet’s friends from his school days.
6 is an adviser to King Claudius and the father of
Laertes and Ophelia.
7 is the son of Polonius and the brother of Ophelia.
2 Which of the above characters says these things at the beginning of the play? Write in
the names.
a ___________________
b ___________________
‘Think of me as your father now. Come with me, everyone. We will
drink to my new family!’
‘My father, the greatest man in Denmark, has gone. The man who’s
taken his place is no better than an animal.’
3 Do you think these two characters will have a good relationship? Why / Why not?
To the teacher
Aim: To help students understand the relationship
relationship between King Claudius / Prince Hamlet
between the main characters in the play
(uncle / nephew), Queen Gertrude / Prince Hamlet
Time: 30 minutes
(mother / son), Laertes / Ophelia (brother / sister)?
Organization: Give out a copy of the worksheet
Then ask students to complete section 2. Check
to each student or pair of students. As a class go
the answers as a class and encourage students to
through the pronunciation of the characters’ names
speculate why Prince Hamlet and King Claudius will
and ask students to guess if they are male or female.
have a bad relationship. Don’t tell students whether
Go through any unknown vocabulary in the answers
their ideas are correct or not at this point – they will
e.g. adviser. Then ask students to match the names
find out when they read the play.
with the descriptions. Check the answers as a class.
Key: 1: a 3, b 1, c 2, d 6, e 7, f 4, g 5
Next, ask students questions to establish the main
2: a King Claudius, b Prince Hamlet
relationships between the characters e.g. What is the
3: They won’t have a good relationship
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STAGE
2
Hamlet
While reading activity
What happens next?
PRINCE HAMLET
YES
NO
YES
NO
YES
NO
YES
NO
runs away to France and marries Ophelia.
goes mad, jumps into a river and dies.
kills King Claudius one night when he is asleep.
dies when he has a sword fight with Laertes.
KING CLAUDIUS
sees the ghost late at night and becomes very frightened.
asks the King of England to kill Hamlet.
tries to kill Hamlet by pushing him down the stairs.
tells Laertes about his terrible secret.
dies when Hamlet gives him poisoned wine to drink.
QUEEN GERTRUDE
learns about her husband’s terrible secret and runs away to England.
learns about her husband’s terrible secret and kills him.
dies when she drinks some poisoned wine by accident.
becomes very angry with her son and stops talking to him.
LAERTES
goes to England with Rosencrantz, Guildenstern and Hamlet.
becomes very angry when he learns about his father’s death and plans to
kill Prince Hamlet.
sees the ghost one night and learns about the murder of King Hamlet.
takes his sister Ophelia to France so she can’t marry Hamlet.
To the teacher
Where: At the end of Act 3
students in pairs to decide, without looking at the
Aim: To encourage students to predict the
rest of the play, what happens to the four characters.
development of the story
Go through feedback as a class. Correct predictions
Time: 40 minutes
are not important, although it may be interesting for
Organization: Give one copy of the worksheet to
students to keep their worksheets and see whether
each pair of students. Go through the predictions as
or not they guessed right.
a class and check any unknown vocabulary. Ask the
PHOTOCOPIABLE
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62
STAGE
2
Hamlet
After reading activity
Character grid
Put a tick or a cross in each of the boxes in the table.
HAMLET
CLAUDIUS
GERTRUDE
POLONIUS
LAERTES
OPHELIA
angry
frightened
honest
strong
weak
kind
simple
clever
quiet
selfish
To the teacher
Aim: To encourage students to reflect on the
group a copy of the grid. Ask the students to discuss
characters in the play
the characters in their groups and put a tick or a
Time: 30–40 minutes
cross for each adjective. They could also add a few
Organization: Write the names of the six characters
notes in the grid about their ideas. For feedback,
on the board. See how much students can remember
choose three of the characters that generated the
about each character. Then go through the meaning
most debate and go through the answers from the
and pronunciation of the adjectives as a class.
different groups as a class. Encourage students to
Ask students to give examples of how an angry,
compare their ideas and justify their answers with
frightened, honest etc. person might behave.
reference to the play.
Put the students into small groups and give each
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